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		<title>How to Transfer Your Dance Studio Website to a New Webhost Interview</title>
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		<description><![CDATA[Below is an interview the Suzanne Blake-Gerety of DanceStudioOwner.com did with me for her members.


**************** TRANSCRIPT ********************
DanceStudioOwner.com Member Teleseminar  with Guest, Chad Michael Lawson  Topic: &#8220;Your Website: How to Upgrade, Switch Hosting
and Important Questions to Ask When Hiring a New Company to Build a Site for Your Dance Studio&#8221;
Suzanne Blake
Gerety:    Chad, welcome! I’m so glad you’re [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Below is an interview the Suzanne Blake-Gerety of <a title="Dance Studio Owner" href="http://ow.ly/2hXeK" target="_blank">DanceStudioOwner.com</a> did with me for her members.</p>
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<div class="aaplayer">**************** TRANSCRIPT ********************</div>
<div class="aaplayer">DanceStudioOwner.com Member Teleseminar  with Guest, Chad Michael Lawson  Topic: &#8220;Your Website: How to Upgrade, Switch Hosting<br />
and Important Questions to Ask When Hiring a New Company to Build a Site for Your Dance Studio&#8221;</p>
<p>Suzanne Blake<br />
Gerety:    Chad, welcome! I’m so glad you’re here.</p>
<p>Chad Michael<br />
Lawson:    Yeah, super.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    Let’s give a quick background introduction. We had the chance to meet live last summer at the Dance Teachers Summit, but we really got to know each other when I launched Dance Studio Owner over two years ago. Tell everyone a little bit about you and your background in dance; or your love for helping people in the dance world.</p>
<p>Chad:    Okay. I guess that genesis started about 12 years ago. I’m a dancer, myself. As a day job type of thing, I was running a Web development company, and also a search engine type Internet marketing company. I’m in Phoenix.</p>
<p>I have a lot of friends who are dancers. We were at a dance and I was talking to a studio owner. He said, “I’m having a lot of problems getting leads to the studio.”</p>
<p>I said, “Well, let me just try. I’ve done it for a lot of other businesses. Let me just try some stuff out.” We’d been friends for ten years, so we were very casual.</p>
<p>I just started doing my thing, and he said, “Wow. This is crazy. It’s really working.” Everything just started working from there.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    If you’re just joining us now, it is the DanceStudioOwner.com teleseminar. We’re here with Chad Michael Lawson. If you’re in a situation where you have work to do in the background, you’re more than welcome to mute your line, which you can do by pressing *6; and then *6 will unmute you again, later. Or, if you have a mute feature on your phone, you can do that, as well.</p>
<p>Chad, you’re obviously gifted and talented in the area of marketing and in business, and you love dance. What brought you to the point where you are today?</p>
<p>Chad:    It kind of started with that first conversation with some of those students that I was bringing to that studio here. I guess it’s not really around anymore, but before the Dance Teachers Summit – I think it was three years ago – it was called the Dance Teacher Conference. It was run by Dance Teacher Magazine.</p>
<p>I bought a booth there and I just talked to studio owners. I asked them, “What’s the biggest pain in your butt?” I didn’t really know. I didn’t have anything to sell, but I just wanted to help solve some problems.</p>
<p>The one thing I kept hearing was, “It’s our Web site. Our Web site is terrible.” It was always the same story. They’d say, “Oh, we had a friend or a parent or a cousin do it for us in the beginning.”</p>
<p>Everything was great because everyone was happy and there was a lot of energy, but then a year into it – or maybe even as early as six months – it was always, “Oh, we sent them something to update this Web site. It’s been two weeks, and they still haven’t updated it. I can’t really put pressure on them because they’re friends and they’re doing it for free. It doesn’t look that good. It’s not really working. I can’t get rank in the search engines. It’s not really getting people to call.” It was always something like that.</p>
<p>Then I put together a package just for dance studio owners. I tricked it out just for them, just for you guys, just for us. You’re going to be on it pretty soon, so that’ll be really cool.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    Exactly. This is what we have. For all of you who are here live – as I promised at the beginning – you took time out of your day to be here. I want to make sure that in the 20 minutes of content that we give, then we open it up to questions. You’re here for a reason, and I want to make sure we answer those. For all of the people who listen to a replay of this, I want it to be of great value.</p>
<p>Here’s what I promise that you’re going to get out of this. Chad’s not here to sell you on his Web site package, but I trust Chad enough. He’s actually someone I’ve watched help people who have come to me at Dance Studio Owner and said, “I have a horrible Web site company. They’re not doing what I need them to do.”</p>
<p>Chad would say, “Actually, that’s not the first person who’s come to me from XYZ business because of that.”</p>
<p>All of us as studio owners have a lot of vendors to keep track of, but our Web site is so important. Let’s start answering some of the big questions.</p>
<p>People fall into three categories: those who have no Web site at all; those who have more of a homegrown, built-from-scratch, or old Web site; or they have one that’s functioning well, but they’re asking, “What’s next for me? What should I do to make this better?”</p>
<p>Let’s talk about this. Chad, what’s the first step to take if someone is really frustrated with their Web site situation? What’s it going to cost now? Can you give a ballpark for someone maybe going on a Word Press platform? The big fear is “I don’t have $4,000 to put into my website.” What do you do about that?</p>
<p>Chad:    If you wanted a completely custom site, and it was just doing everything for you, yes, it could be a $4,000 site. That’s not ridiculous, but I know that’s not reasonable for a dance studio of the type that we’re doing. Some of the ballroom studios that I work with can handle that, but for most of the performing arts type things and what you’re talking about, that’s just craziness, especially in the summer.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    Exactly; especially in the summer.</p>
<p>Chad:    If you don’t have a Web site, I would go to Google Local and get listed there. You have to be online no matter what, and that’s free and it’s Google. That’s the very first thing you’re going to do.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    There’s a tutorial on  HYPERLINK &#8220;http://www.dancestudioowner.com&#8221; DanceStudioOwner.com about it. It’s very easy. It’s the free listing for your business to be found online. I can’t stress that enough, so it’s a good point. Make sure you’re listed. Even if you have a great, awesome Web site, you should all be listed on Google Local.</p>
<p>Then what? What have you seen as the industry ballpark? Can someone get into a new Web site without writing a check for $4,000?</p>
<p>Chad:    For sure. I feel kind of weird because we were just saying, “I don’t want to sell you on my services.”</p>
<p>Suzanne:    Right. Talk about it, though. Give an example.</p>
<p>Chad:    Basically, what I put together is a package. It’s the same Web site, honestly, as if you were a pest control company, you called me, and you said, “How much would a Web site cost?” I would charge between $3,500 and $4,000.</p>
<p>However, because I’m a dancer and just have a soft spot for studios, I package that same thing up and just sell it for $77 a month. There’s no setup fee or anything. It has all the same stuff as a $4,000 site, but it’s only $77 a month. That’s basically what I would recommend.</p>
<p>I know what’s out there. I’ve been doing this for 12 years, which is a really long time in the Internet world. It’s basically a long time, anyway. It’s so wide and varied, especially because the Internet’s hot or in vogue. Everybody and their brother “knows HTML,” and they do search engine optimization, or whatever is cool at the moment. How many people really know what they’re doing, though? You know what I mean.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    Right. For everybody listening to this call, I want to give full disclosure of two things. Personally speaking, at our dance studio – that’s the real side of us – we are up against exactly what’s going on in this call. We had a really nice, custom site built probably four to five years ago, that was, at the time, really nice. We had to pay a Webmaster every time to make an update. It was built in Dreamweaver and it was complicated. Whatever it was, it wasn’t useful.</p>
<p>Now, though, we’re saying, “This looks outdated.” We have to get someone really complicated every time we want to make an update. It’s a hassle.</p>
<p>There are new options available for you, if you’re listening to this call and are thinking about it. Just for myself, I can do basic things. The editor is as easy as updating Word documents to make changes to your site. Would you agree, Chad?</p>
<p>Chad:    Yeah. It has to be. As a studio owner, you’re slammed. I know that you’re busy and you don’t have time to geek out or anything; and you really shouldn’t have to.</p>
<p>If you can basically type up e-mails or if you want to bold or text something, as soon as you press Save, it writes all the HTML for you, live on your site. Because of the fact that you have a log in, you could do this whenever, even at 11:00 at night when you’re finished cleaning the studio or you’re just in your pajamas on the weekend. Whenever you have some time, just pop in there and make those changes.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    Those are good points. Quick, easy changes is where it’s at right now. Here’s what I want to make sure of, too, in the next piece I move onto. People say, “How do I upgrade? What if I currently have a site I’m paying for? I’m paying for the hosting. I have this other company. I don’t know. Do I own my domain name?”</p>
<p>It’s all of those things. When you go to approach another company, what should you be looking for in terms of the hosting and the domain names? What are some good questions people should ask?</p>
<p>Chad:    I think that, first of all, you should know if you own your domain name or not. Actually, I’m going to back up. The first thing you should do is not tell the company you’re working with that you’re moving away. If you do that, a lot of times, they just become jerks. They’re not all super-mature.</p>
<p>A good, reliable company would say, “Okay. That’s too bad. Maybe we could give you a better offer,” or something like that.</p>
<p>However, a lot of times, people get kind of sore. I don’t want to say that they’re sabotaging your site, but they’re definitely not as helpful as if they just think you’re a customer and they’re just trying to help you out. I’ve heard some horror stories with that.</p>
<p>So, the first thing I would say is to not let them know anything more than they have to know. Eventually, that will become inevitable; but in the beginning, anyway, you don’t want to shoot yourself in the foot and make the whole process harder than it really needs to be.</p>
<p>Second, you need to find out who owns your domain name because that’s really where all the control is. If you registered it at GoDaddy, Network Solutions, Register.com, or something like that, then you probably own your domain name.</p>
<p>However, a lot of times I hear, especially with people who are brand new on the Internet – and a lot of dance studio owners are like this – that they go to somebody like a Web development company or a purported company and they say, “Okay. We’ll just handle all the technical details for you.”</p>
<p>They say, “Oh great. I don’t have to worry about that.”</p>
<p>The problem is that if someone registers your domain name for you, they own your domain name. That’s obviously a problem. If you want to move somewhere, and if you can’t control your domain name, then you’re just screwed.</p>
<p>I’ve even seen situations where somebody wanted to move away, and then they found out that the company registered their domain name because they were being nice or were trying to sell that as a service. Then, when they wanted to leave, they said, “If you want to leave, you’ll have to buy your domain name for $800.” Literally: $800.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    I just want to make a note to that. There is a tool. You can go online to find out who owns your domain name. The one I use is WhoIs.com. If you go to  HYPERLINK &#8220;<a title="http://www.domains.whois.com" href="http://www.domains.whois.com" target="_blank">http://www.domains.whois.com</a>&#8221; Domains.WhoIs.com, you can look up who owns your domain name. That’s the one I use. Is that the one you use, Chad?</p>
<p>Chad:    I don’t. I use site called  HYPERLINK &#8220;<a title="domain tools" href="http://www.domaintools.com/" target="_blank">http://www.domaintools.com/</a>&#8221; DomainTools.com.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    Either way, it should show up saying who owns your domain name, and you can find out there.</p>
<p>Chad:    Yeah. If you don’t know, it’s definitely worth knowing. You can even Google “WhoIs,” and then whatever comes up, you just type your domain name in there, and it will give you a list of when it was registered, who it was registered to, and whatnot. Then figure that out.</p>
<p>What was the next part of the question about hosting?</p>
<p>Suzanne:    You want to know either way if you, personally, own your own domain name. I would say that if you own it, great. That means you’re in the driver’s seat. If you don’t own your domain name, there are two things you just mentioned. If you’re thinking of moving to a new company, before you tell the company you’re with, it would be a good idea to have everything lined up with the new business so that you can have some cards on your side.</p>
<p>The next thing, as you said, in terms of upgrading, is that you can have a new site being built for you while your other, old site is running. I think that sometimes dance studio owners get overwhelmed. They say, “I don’t have time to shut my other site down. We’re right up against registration.”</p>
<p>It’s okay. You don’t have to shut your old site down while you’re building your new one. Do you want to comment on that a little bit? That’s a technical thing that I didn’t learn until I was into this whole technology stuff.</p>
<p>Chad:    I’m going to give it just a little bit of back story before I answer that direct question, because I think it will help in understanding. There are basically two parts to a Web site. There’s the name itself – the domain name – which is like MyDanceStudio.com, or whatever your name is. Then there’s the hosting.</p>
<p>Hosting is basically just a piece of space on a server somewhere where all the files sit. The Internet works like a phone book. You have a name, so I would look up your name: Suzanne Gerety. Then I would get a number, and I would call you.</p>
<p>It’s the same type of thing. If I type in “Kathy Blake Dance Studios,” the Internet translates it to a number. That number goes to your host, and that’s where all your files are sitting.</p>
<p>We have what’s called a “development server.” It’s basically just a little thing off to the side that no one knows about but just you and me. We’ll install your site on there.</p>
<p>A reputable Web company will install a site on a development server, and then they’ll let you have access to that that. So, you get it going. You copy and paste your content in, you throw in your pictures, you type in your words, you throw up your class schedule, you hook in Jackrabbit or whatever you may be using, and you throw in your calendar. Then, when it’s like you’d like it, you just change where the domain name points. You’d point it from the old host to the new host, and bam!</p>
<p>Literally, I’ve had people I met last summer when I was at the Dance Teacher Conference, and they said, “Yeah, we want to do a Web site.”</p>
<p>Then they just get so busy. With some studios, it literally has been a year. It’s just been sitting on the development server, and they just work on it here and there. Now the summer is out, and they say, “Oh great. We have some time.”</p>
<p>So, we’re launching all of these sites all of a sudden. That’s a dance studio owner’s life. The summer is when you have time if you have time. It shouldn’t be a pressured situation. You just get it to where you like it, and then you point the name at it.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    That’s really helpful. We are throwing a lot of info. Everybody is at a different point on the spectrum.</p>
<p>Chad:    I was pointing out extreme cases. Sorry.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    No, it’s true. We’re all over. There are degrees of where you are in this process. In the next five minutes, let’s talk a little bit about this. How important is the Web site for a dance studio right now, and what can that do?</p>
<p>We all want to get more students. It’s sort of a twofold question. With the importance of your Web site getting more students, what kinds of questions should you be asking somebody who’s going to build your Web site, whether it’s you or another business? What’s important now for getting more students?</p>
<p>Chad:    Great question. Wow. A five minute answer.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    I would call you a friend. You’re a friend. We both really met early on in social media. Let’s toss out the concept of social media. Maybe that’s one of them.</p>
<p>Chad:    Definitely, you have to have a Web site. There’s no question about it. Hello? You’ve got to wake up to that as soon as possible. You just have to have it.</p>
<p>Second, just having a Web site in and of itself is not enough. That’s why having your friend do it or having some craptastic-looking Web site isn’t going to work either. It’s almost better not to have a Web site, because you could be turning people away by having a crappy Web site. That’s really the negative version of what I’m showing you. It really is just that important.</p>
<p>It used to be that people would look in the phone books, but that just doesn’t happen anymore. People hit the Web. Think about the last time you wanted to get information on something. Did you hit the phone book or did you hit the Web? Did you hit Google or Facebook or something?</p>
<p>Everyone on the call, just think about your own personal need for information. What did you do last time? You probably hit the Web. It’s the same thing with your customers.</p>
<p>If they’re thinking, “I would like to enroll my daughter in ballet,” that’s what they’re doing. They’re typing in the town name and “ballet” or the town name and “dance class,” or “dance classes” and town name or “dance studio” and the town name you’re in. You’ve got to have one.</p>
<p>The best way to get people excited about you or your studio is to make them feel empowered. I know this is a little bit off topic, but not really. When you can give people information and when you can educate them, then they feel a bond with you.</p>
<p>When you put up your site and you talk about the benefits of dance class, your philosophy, or your approach, or you have testimonials or success stories, and people can click around, discover, and draw their own conclusions, they’re much more likely to stay with you, call you or spend money with you and take your classes.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    Absolutely.</p>
<p>Chad:    The more information you can have on your Web site, the better. A two- or three-page site is good. At least you’re there. However, how empowering are you making me, as the surfer or the customer?</p>
<p>Suzanne:    I want to open it up to a couple of questions here, Chad, because you get our minds going on this. I just posted an article about that. You’re saying two important things that are happening in business now that we have all seen changed in the past two years.</p>
<p>The first is that people want to connect with you on social media because they’re now becoming trained, and expect to be able to reach out to you in a more social way.</p>
<p>No matter what Web site company you’re using for it, they should definitely have social media integration into your site, whether it’s making that be a fun, easy way to connect with you or whatever it should be. Make sure you’re asking those questions. If they’re passing it off as a fad, you want to keep looking for someone better.</p>
<p>The other thing would be, like you said, Chad, that this is the age of content consumption, and people want to see your expertise beyond just “Here’s the schedule. Register for classes.”</p>
<p>What are you giving them for educational information about dance at your studio? As you said, make it be appealing, with good content, and give people more than one way to connect with you through your Web site. I think, now more than ever, that you can have a really professional-looking site done without having to stroke a check for $4,000 up front.</p>
<p>I think, as well for studio owners, that there are so many tools out there online, you can be in control of your domain name and your hosting. You have the driver’s seat on this today.</p>
<p>Let’s open it up to questions. I think we might have some things that will come up that we can go down in more detail. If you’re on the call, you can press *6 to unmute yourself, or just hit “unmute” and go right ahead and ask your question. Someone always has to be first.</p>
<p>Jamie:    I’ll be first. My name is Jamie Lynn, and I’m with the Sutton Studio in Kentucky.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    Hi Jamie.</p>
<p>Chad:    Hey.</p>
<p>Jamie:    I’m new to the whole computer world, although I grew up in the same generation. I don’t know; I just never really picked it up very easily. I have had my wonderful husband basically make me a very generic Web site, but I don’t know what makes a craptastic Web site. That’s what I’m asking. How do I know if mine is craptastic or not?</p>
<p>Chad:    That’s a great question. That’s kind of hard. You can kind of divorce yourself from ownership. You know this is yours, so you’re looking at it differently. However, let’s say you were just surfing the Web.</p>
<p>Let’s say you needed pest control. I’m stuck on that today. If you were going to look in pest control in Kentucky and you came across that Web site, would you say, “I’m going to hit the Back button,” or would you say, “I’m going to read a little bit more about this”?</p>
<p>It’s kind of an artistic, intuitive answer, as far as the look and the design. If you saw it, would you be kind of turned off or kind of turned on?</p>
<p>Suzanne:    Jamie, I would be happy to look at your Web site and let you know, very much from a loving eye.</p>
<p>Jamie:    I am willing to take all the criticism. I’m just starting my second year, and I have gotten more than 50% of my students from the Web site. It’s all word of mouth and Web site right now.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    That’s a good sign.</p>
<p>Jamie:    Yes, it’s a good sign, but now it’s summer and we have time to work on it again and refresh it. I want to be able to take those steps. My Web site is  HYPERLINK &#8220;<a title="The Sutton Studio" href="http://www.thesuttonstudio.com/" target="_blank">http://www.thesuttonstudio.com/</a>&#8221; TheSuttonStudio.com.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    Awesome. I sort of have this ten-point, superstar, little checklist I go through when people say, “Will you take a look at my Web site?”</p>
<p>This is me speaking off the site. With our Web site at our studio right now, every time I look at it I cringe. We’ve already made the decision to go with Chad and move over to a new site.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with your Web site, that it’s broken. It’s more like enhancements that you could do. People are suddenly becoming trained users of the Internet, and they expect certain click points. I’ll look at it more from that standpoint. Maybe Chad wants to look at it, too. I would be happy to do that for you, Jamie.</p>
<p>Jamie:    That would be wonderful. Thank you.</p>
<p>Chad:    No problem. There’s another thing I was going to throw in there, just besides the intuitive type of thing. Do you have good information? Is it generic or could a mother look through this and bond with you because of the way you’ve presented everything? Do you know what I mean?</p>
<p>Jamie:    That’s what we’ve been trying to work on right now. We’ve been trying to work on “How do we make this more approachable?” I don’t know what I’m doing, so there you go.</p>
<p>Chad:    If you’re getting traffic, you’re getting leads, and you’re getting students, you’re doing something right. It’s just a matter of finding out what that is, and then just hammering down on that some more.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    Jamie, you’re not giving yourself enough credit. You’re very active on the site. You’re doing the right things.</p>
<p>Jamie:    I’m trying!</p>
<p>Suzanne:    I’m going to point you out and say that you’re actually doing a great job. There’s always work to do. Having a Web site for your business is like owning your own home. There will always be a wall to paint, a carpet to clean, a board to fix, or a handle to repair. It’s like your Web site isn’t done. It’s sort of like the laundry. It will never be done. It’s an ongoing, flexible thing.</p>
<p>I think that’s the stress point I want to take away. Chad, you really helped me work on that. You said, “Suzanne, it’s not like you’re laying the foundation for the Leaning Tower of Pisa here. You’re just building a flexible Web site. It needs to be able to be changed and manipulated.”</p>
<p>You’re doing a great job, for even being on the call today. Awesome. Are there any other questions from our people on the call?</p>
<p>Judy:    I have a quick question. This is Judy in Valrico.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    Hi, Judy.</p>
<p>Chad:    Hi, Judy.</p>
<p>Judy:    I’m debating whether to put prices – my tuition – on my Web site. Some of my competitors do and some of them don’t. Is it a good idea? I’d much rather they call me and hear my personable voice in person, but I want to attract them to do it. What’s your opinion?</p>
<p>Suzanne:    That’s a great question, Judy. Thanks for asking that, because you represent many, many studio owners. I have my own personal opinion, but I want to hear Chad’s because he works with lots of studios, too.</p>
<p>Chad:    There’s really no definitive “Yes, you should,” or “No, you shouldn’t.” It is in context because you have other studios in your town that are competing for the same customer that you are. So, if everybody’s doing it and you’re not, and you’re noticing a decrease in people who call, then maybe you should.</p>
<p>The reason you wouldn’t is because you don’t want to just be a commodity. You don’t want to compete on price. I would say that if your business is tanking a little bit or your call volume is going down, and everyone else has numbers on there but you don’t, maybe you want to experiment. Assuming you have a decent way to update your Web site, you could just try it for a month.</p>
<p>However, I would say to try to do something different. Try to get yourself away from apples to apples, like “This class is $12 and this class is $13. I’m going with the $12 one.”</p>
<p>Grab a video camera and just give them the same kind of pitch that you would talk to somebody about over the phone. Make yourself different so that it can’t be that this is just price. You don’t want to be in that bucket because then, pretty soon, the whole town is going to be the Walmart for dance lessons, where everything is just cheap and we’re trying to undercut everyone. That’s just not good for anyone.</p>
<p>Judy:    Good idea.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    That’s a good example. Judy, here’s my follow up to that. As you said, your specific location is going to come into play. I’m a busy mom. I represent the demographic of many studio owners’ parents.</p>
<p>I have two kids. On my desk – no kidding – right now as we speak, I have the Rec Department’s schedule for soccer, an enrichment music program for my son, two preschool schedules, one kindergarten form, babysitter schedules, and the whole bit. Dance class? Just give me the information so I can write you the check, register, and call it a day.</p>
<p>That’s my opinion. If I have to pick up the phone and make a phone call, it’s one more step I won’t do. I’ll go to the place where I can register online or I can print off a form and mail you a check. That’s the mom in me. Does that make sense?</p>
<p>Judy:    That’s great input. I know we have to build our businesses from the bottom; from the preschool on up. If I can save a person time and energy, that’s a super suggestion. Thanks so much.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    Absolutely. Judy, thank you so much for asking that question. It’s a very vulnerable place to be when we’re in business and we put our prices online. Like Chad said, it’s not always about the price, but you have to take into consideration your market and what they have time for. As you said, distinguish yourself beyond just the price of a dance lesson. That’s a great question.</p>
<p>Are there any other questions? If you’re here, you are welcome to speak up. If not, it’s okay.</p>
<p>Chad, what are some other things that have surfaced for you in this call that you want to make sure people get an understanding of?</p>
<p>Chad:    I guess there’s one thing that’s a little bit hard to spot. A normal Web development company’s whole business is to build something, design something, make it pretty, and then move on to the next customer.</p>
<p>They’re saying, “Let’s just do this, let’s knock it out, let’s get the next gig, cash the check, and then let’s go again.”</p>
<p>Their whole bent is to get something out there. Presumably, they’d like to win some awards or something for the nice designs, but that’s really not in your best interest. A pretty Web site isn’t necessarily what’s going to get you the most customers. Do you know what I mean?</p>
<p>Suzanne:    Sure.</p>
<p>Chad:    The other side of that is that most Web development companies don’t know anything about search engine optimization. Having a site up that isn’t going to come up in Google when you type in the town name and “dance classes,” isn’t doing you a lot of good, either.</p>
<p>If you’re talking to Web development firms, if they do search engine marketing, that’s a little bit of a plus because they might build it with that type of thing in mind.</p>
<p>You just want to make sure that whoever you’re talking to has an understanding of how Google works, and that how they design it and how they build it is going to be in your best interest and not theirs. They’re really there to just build a pretty site, whereas you’re trying to get customers.</p>
<p>They may have a lot of distracting things going on in their design and it looks really flashy, but if a mom like you who’s busy is trying to get on there to get the schedule to paste it on the refrigerator but they can’t find that because of all this crappy stuff that’s going on, that’s not doing you any good.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    Absolutely. I just want to make a point about that. I’m not trying to map this on everyone, but we’re going through an incredible transition this year, where we are doing away with the 32-page mailed brochure that costs $2.50 apiece to mail. We’re going to online registration, and it hasn’t been the most smooth process; I’ll be completely honest. Everybody’s got to go through that change. It’s hard to train your people to go through that, and we are in the middle of an upgrade on our Web site with Chad.</p>
<p>At one point, the airlines decided that you would no longer get a ticket in the mail. You would print your boarding pass. For a while there, it was uncomfortable for people: “What do you mean? I just take this piece of paper to the airport and I get on my airplane? How is that possible?”</p>
<p>I think dance studios are in a place now where they have the opportunity to reduce a huge amount of their costs, but increase it with the technology that people want.</p>
<p>I’m obviously passionate about technology, and I realize that it’s always a work in progress. Your Web site is so important, and it doesn’t have to be that it puts you out of business because it’s so expensive. It doesn’t. So ask good questions.</p>
<p>Find out if you own your own domain name, even if you’re not looking to switch your hosting company or your developer. Ask good questions. Make sure people are really aware – like you said, Chad – of what they’re good at and what they’re not. Just keep putting it out there, I guess.</p>
<p>Thank you, Chad, so much, for being here. How can people find you online if they do want to get in touch with you?</p>
<p>Chad:    If you have any questions like, “I want you to look at my Web site,” or if you didn’t want to ask it in a public forum, just feel free to shoot me an e-mail. My Web site is  HYPERLINK &#8220;<a title="Real Deal Dance Websites" href="http://www.RealDealDanceWebsites.com" target="_self">http://www.realdealdancewebsites.com</a>&#8221; RealDealDanceWebsites.com, and or <a title="Real Deal Dance Websites" href="http://realdeal.zendesk.com/home" target="_blank">click here</a> to contact me.</p>
<p>If you have any questions or were thinking about going with a company and can I look at them, just let me know. I’ll help you out.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    There’s one more thing about Chad. He’s a good guy. Like I said, he presents at many of the national dance industry events. He’s very much a technology expert. He’s passionate about dance. I brought him here today because I know that he cares about dance studio owners and he wants to see your business grow.</p>
<p>Chad, thanks for being here.</p>
<p>Chad:    Thank you.</p>
<p>Suzanne:    Thanks to everyone listening. Like I said, we always make the transcript and the replay available for the call for our members. Thanks again. This was a  HYPERLINK &#8220;<a title="Dance Studio Owner Secret Resource" href="http://ow.ly/2hXeK" target="_blank">http://www.dancestudioowner.com/</a>&#8221; DanceStudioOwner.com teleseminar. I’m Suzanne Blake Gerety. Thanks so much for being here.</p>
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		<title>How to Write an &#8216;About Us&#8217; Page for your Dance Studio</title>
		<link>http://www.realdealdancewebsites.com/blog/how-to-write-an-about-us-page-for-your-dance-studio/</link>
		<comments>http://www.realdealdancewebsites.com/blog/how-to-write-an-about-us-page-for-your-dance-studio/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 May 2010 00:28:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>dance_website_design</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Techniques]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[about us page]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dance site]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dance site about page]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dance site about us page]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dance web design]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[



Image by jrawle via Flickr



The &#8216;About Us&#8217; page—just about every single dance studio website has one -or they should anyway&#8230;. The &#8216;About Us&#8217; page is where your parents, students, and prospective students learn you and your studio. If you want to convert those visitors to give you a call, consider you studio, and/or give your [...]]]></description>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29403028@N00/2811673330"><img title="Dance studio" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3070/2811673330_49cbe470fc_m.jpg" alt="Dance studio" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd zemanta-img-attribution">Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29403028@N00/2811673330">jrawle</a> via Flickr</dd>
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<p>The &#8216;About Us&#8217; page—just about every single dance studio website has one -or they should anyway&#8230;. The &#8216;About Us&#8217; page is where your parents, students, and prospective students learn you and your studio. If you want to convert those visitors to give you a call, consider you studio, and/or give your current students and parents a deeper appreciation of what your site does &amp; what your studio is about, you NEED a well written &#8216;About Us&#8217; page.</p>
<h2><strong>The Mission of the &#8216;About Us&#8217; Page</strong></h2>
<p>The &#8216;About Us&#8217; page is the section of your dance studio site where people go to find out about not only the site they&#8217;re on but also the studio they&#8217;re reading about or considering. I mean they&#8217;re on your page already so they must be a little interested, right? I mean, they *may* be there for another reason but the objective is the same: inform them why they are on the site and why they should consider your studio.</p>
<h3><strong>Who Reads &#8216;About Us&#8217; Page Anyway?</strong></h3>
<p>You really need to define the people you’re writing your &#8216;About Us&#8217; page for. It helps you write more stuff that&#8217;s relevant to the students you&#8217;re trying to attract. Here&#8217;s three common types of of &#8216;About Us&#8217; page readers:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Group 1: First Time Visitors</strong><br />
This group of folks heard about your studio from a friend, stumbled upon one of your dance site through typing something in the search engine or social media service aka Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. They liked it or you enough to go ahead and decide if they should keep coming back.<br />
<em>In this scenario, your studio &#8216;About Us&#8217; page is an opportunity to convert a visitor to a phone call and hopefully student.</em></li>
<li><strong>Group 2: Your Students or Parents</strong><br />
Your &#8216;regulars&#8217;, parents and current students, sometimes want to know more about the your studio than what they learned through word of mouth at the studio, in class or just over hearing stuff in the halls or lobby. <em>Now, the &#8216;About Us&#8217; page should give them reasons to keep coming back, tell their friends, have a greater appreciation of your studio, and generally just make you more &#8220;cool&#8221; in their eyes so they&#8217;ll start telling everyone about you.</em></li>
<li><strong>Group 3: People Who Want to Work with You</strong><br />
These people are types like advertisers who want to sell you stuff (merchantCircle.com, Yelp.com, YellowPages, etc), other site owners in the dance niche or small business owners in your area, dance teachers who want a job, and (hopefully) researchers putting together a feature about you in their blog post, interview, local newspaper or school paper.<br />
<em>This group of people are generally interested in two things: facts and your history.</em></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>All three groups have one thing in common:</strong> they’re basically checking you out, checking out your dance studio site.  Your &#8216;About Us&#8217; page gives them what they want about your or it doesn&#8217;t. Make it good and it&#8217;ll help grow your studio.</p>
<p>How do I make a &#8220;good&#8221; &#8216;About Us&#8217; page? Glad you asked! Let&#8217;s start with the basics:</p>
<h3><strong>The Basics of a Dance Studio &#8216;About Us&#8217; Page:</strong></h3>
<p>In case you didnt&#8217; go to journalism school, start with the &#8220;<a title="wikipedia Five ws" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Ws" target="_blank">Five Ws</a>&#8220;:</p>
<p><strong>Who</strong> are you?<br />
<strong>What</strong> do you do? Or, what does your studio specialize in as far as dance goes?<br />
<strong>When</strong> did you start the studio?<br />
<strong>Where</strong> are you located?<br />
<strong>How</strong> are you accomplishing what you claim to do? ie are you winning competitions, teaching kids self confidence, giving people a new sense of self, etc<br />
Don&#8217;t get all freaked out on these things. They&#8217;re just meant to be a guide. A simple 1-2 paragraph summary at the top of your webpage gives your web browsers the quick overview they&#8217;re looking for. Don&#8217;t burden them right off with a big block of intimidating text they have to wade through. Just keep it simple.<strong></strong></p>
<p>Then, after you have that summary of sorts, then go ahead and get into a little more detail below that. Get into a story of why you started, why you started dance, why you started teaching dance, what keeps you going all this time, and stuff like that. Not everyone will read it but the people who do will become your biggest fans. It allows them to really bond with you on a deeper level.</p>
<p><strong>Oh, and here&#8217;s a trick to really serve your parents and/or potential students&#8230;.</strong></p>
<p>There are some studies about how people read stuff on the web and it&#8217;s a little different than just plain ole print stuff. The basic idea is they have very little patience. So, if you put all the most important stuff first, it works best.</p>
<p>So, put your your 1-2 sentence summary at the top. That way, the people who are ADD, out of patience, time, or both will get what you are and what you&#8217;re about right away. Usually these are the Group 1 folks above. Then, the other two groups, Group 2 and Group 3, will want more info and *that&#8217;s* what you&#8217;re giving them with the more explanatory paragraphs.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re looking to upgrade your website to a web system that draws in new students, be sure to check out my <a title="Real Deal Dance Websites" href="http://www.realdealdancewebsites.com">dance web design</a> system.</p>
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		<title>Welcome to Dance Website Design Done Right</title>
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		<pubDate>Sun, 28 Sep 2008 00:21:41 +0000</pubDate>
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